After Erice, the group converged on Agrigento, a medium-sized city on the southern coast of Sicily. This was the main focal point of the trip, and Kelly had arranged for us all to stay at a small farm-to-table bed and breakfast.

It was nestled in the Valley of the Temples, and absolutely beautiful. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that they had a guitar there, and a piano. I was itching to play some music, and wasn't able to bring my own guitar on this trip.

The bed and breakfast was teeming with plants of all kinds. The landscaping was top-notch!
It didn't take long for folks to hop in the pool, which overlooked the Valley of the Temples.
In addition the the wildlife in the pool, there was wildlife on the farm! A big potbelly pig takes a nap, probably worn out from the donkey that seemed to get it's kicks chasing him around. By the way, no post-editing on this photo! Just naturally grayscale, which was cool.
Most of the farm animals were kept in pens, but the peacocks were given free roam. Being such a beautiful bird, this was delightful by daylight. But...
...rather annoying when it was 5 AM and they decided my room's balcony was the best place to sit and scream at the rising sun. This photo was taken on my phone, which I think did some weird post-processing to try and compensate for the low light.
A domestic farm animal enjoys the life of luxury. Unfortunately, I don't know how to say "psspsspss" in Italian, so never got a chance to meet this little fella.
Most of the time in the bed and breakfast was spent relaxing by the pool, eating good food, and enjoying the company of friends and family. One of the short day-trips we took was to go explore the Valley of the Temples.
I took some really great photos at the temples, and the next few shots are less about storytelling and more about photography.
As we walked around, the sun started to set. The light pinks of the sky mixed with the reddish brown of the temples led to some amazing photos.
This is one of my favorite photos from the entire trip, and one of the few times I was really grateful to have my camera taking RAW photos. I had to do some light editing in post to adjust the radically different lighting at dusk, and it turned out great!
Another dramatic photo, this being the statue of the fallen Icarus.
As dusk settled in, the temple lights came on which really allowed you to see the texture.
The next day, it was more pool-side chilling!
We also took a brief day trip to the Turkish Steps (Scala dei Turchi), a natural geological formation that was strikingly white. The "rocks" are a clay-like material that's made from marl, which is actually an organic byproduct from dead plankton.
A rusted set of signs which lost their lettering long ago.
It blows my mind that this huge formation is made from such a tiny oceanic creature.
The gang lines up for a photo, with Caitlyn behind the camera.

The final night at the bed and breakfast fell into a bit of chaos, as many of us started to feel a bit queasy. We're not sure what was to blame, but the reactions ranged from small bouts of nausea all the way up to hospital visits. Guess who the lucky one was that ended up in the hospital? I had a progressively worse set of symptoms, including a stomach pain that quickly escalated into the worst pain that I recall ever feeling before. I was taken to the hospital by ambulance, and spent the next few hours being put in a corner and given absolutely zero medical attention. It was a pretty scary few hours, as I feared that I must have some serious internal issue like a burst appendix. Without getting into too many gross details, the pain eventually reached a point that I passed out. When I woke back up, I still hadn't been seen by any nurses or doctors, but I was feeling better. I took off the wristband and walked out, feeling a mix of gratitude and frustration.

My brother JD also got pretty ill, but thankfully enough to avoid a hospital trip himself. We both extended our stay on the farm by a night, and spent the next day being miserable together. By the following evening, we both felt well enough to pack up the car and continue the trip to Patti.